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Last week, Lauren Hill of Mount St. Joseph University courageously took the floor for her first college game, refusing to let an inoperable brain tumor keep her from achieving her dream – and WNBA stars Elena Delle Donne and Tamika Catchings were on hand to lend their support.

Sparks-Mercury Preview

Posted Jul 29 2014 2:05AM

The Phoenix Mercury's march toward WNBA history fittingly includes a pair of wins over the Los Angeles Sparks.

The Mercury, who are closing in on the Sparks' league record for consecutive victories, seek their 16th in a row when they host Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

Phoenix (21-3) hasn't lost since June 12, winning 15 straight to match the second-longest streak in league history. Two of those wins have come on the road against the Sparks.

The Mercury have been tough at both ends of the floor as they lead the league in scoring average (85.7) and points allowed per game (74.7) - an 11.0 differential nearly six higher than that of the next closest team, Minnesota.

Brittney Griner had 18 points and six blocks and Diana Taurasi added 15 points and 10 assists to help Phoenix cruise to another win Saturday, 78-63 over the New York Liberty.

The Liberty, coached by former Pistons "Bad Boy" Bill Laimbeer, tried to play tough against the 6-foot-8 Griner to no avail. While Griner did get flustered in the fourth quarter and received a flagrant-1 foul, Phoenix responded with a 10-0 run to put the game away.

"That 'Bad Boy' stuff, that's dead in the water," Taurasi said. "That doesn't work anymore. That's such '80s basketball, but I guess they keep it rolling like that."

Griner, who broke the league mark for blocks in a game with 11 at Tulsa on June 29, now has 94 on the year - 20 shy of Margo Dydek's 16-year-old season record with 10 to play.

The previous five victories have marked the most dominant stretch of the streak for the Mercury, who have won those games by an average of 16.2 points and show no signs of slowing down after matching the 15-game run by the 1998 Houston Comets.

Despite the streak, Phoenix leads the Lynx by just two games in the Western Conference, though Saturday's win did clinch homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Sparks (12-14), who won a WNBA-record 18 straight in 2001, have responded to a 93-73 home loss to the Mercury on Thursday with two straight victories.

After winning 77-69 at Seattle on Saturday, they returned home Monday night to beat Indiana 77-73. Nneka Ogwumike scored 21 points and Alana Beard added 17 against the Fever to help Los Angeles forge a tie with San Antonio for third place in the West.

"We're a team of adjustments this year, so we've done a good job of just focusing on the task at hand," Ogwumike said. "We know what everyone's capable of, and we bring everything we can to the table."

Los Angeles is 8-5 on the road this season.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Mercury cruise past Sparks for 16th straight win

By AL BRAVOPosted Jul 30 2014 1:25AM

PHOENIX (AP) Facing a short-handed Los Angeles Sparks team playing for the second straight night, the Phoenix Mercury needed a half to get going before cruising to their 16th straight win.

Diana Taurasi had 17 points and four assists as Phoenix beat Los Angeles 90-69 on Tuesday night, giving the Mercury the second-longest winning streak in league history. Phoenix (22-3) passed the Houston Comets' 15-game run in 1998 and moved two games shy of the WNBA mark of 18 straight by Los Angeles in 2001.

The Mercury also won their 11th straight at home, tying a franchise mark set in 1999.

Los Angeles played for the second consecutive game without leading scorer Candace Parker, who remained in California nursing a left knee strain. Despite her absence, the Sparks led by five in the first half and trailed by just three at the break.

''When their best player, you know that she's out, it's just a natural thing to take your foot off the pedal,'' Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. ''I've seen it happen so much as a player, and obviously coaching experiences all around the world. So we didn't have the right energy coming out.''

Candice Dupree had 16 points and nine rebounds while Brittney Griner added 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots for the Mercury. Taurasi and Griner both sat out the fourth quarter.

''We kept ourselves down for 20 minutes but we got going again, that's the main thing, as long as we can change it within the game,'' Brondello said.

Nneka Ogwumike had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Sparks (12-15), who are now 2-3 since general manager Penny Toler took over as coach during the All-Star break. Los Angeles has lost four of six overall.

Kristi Tolliver added 14 points and seven assists for the Sparks, who kept it close for more than a half.

''Whenever a team comes in without their best player, other players pick up the slack and do a little bit more,'' Taurasi said. ''They showed what kind of team they are. They have a lot of heart and a lot of character, and they played really well for most of the game.''

Phoenix used a third-quarter run to break open a three-point game at halftime. The Mercury scored 12 straight points, using its break and scoring twice off of steals, to take a 62-45 lead with 3:08 left in the period.

''The crowd got in it and we got a little rattled,'' Toler said. ''When we got rattled, I think they might have outscored us 14-2, but like I told them, from that moment, as a team and as players you get better, come down, slow the ball down and let's execute. We didn't execute in that stretch.''

Phoenix led 66-51 going into the fourth quarter and did not allow Los Angeles to get any closer than 11 points.

The Mercury, who lead the league in scoring and hold opponents to the fewest points, were 39.5 percent from the field while allowing Los Angeles to shoot 58 percent although Phoenix still led 42-39 at the break.

''It was a mess,'' Dupree said. ''It was a mess on both ends of the floor. We lacked energy, missing shots, bad defense, wasn't pretty.

''It's just defense, being able to shut them down,'' she added. ''They were killing us off the pick-and-roll. We kind of eliminated that in the second half. So when we are playing good defense, we are at our best, leads out to buckets in transition, moving the ball a lot better in the second half, just good-looking basketball.''

Phoenix held Ogwumike to 2-of-9 shooting in the second half after she made 7-of-8 in the first half, scoring 14 points and grabbing five rebounds.

Reserve Shay Murphy added a second-half spark, scoring 10 points and getting three assists, mostly in the second half.

Los Angeles scored eight straight points in the first quarter to take a 24-20 lead. The Sparks held the league's best offensive team to 7-for-21 shooting. However, Taurasi and Murphy hit 3-pointers during a 10-0 run that gave Phoenix a 32-27 lead with 6:20 left in the first half.

Phoenix has beaten Los Angeles in its previous three meetings earlier this season.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited